2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series – Montreal Canadiens win 5-3 against the New York Islanders
The 125th game of the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series saw the Montreal Canadiens host the New York Islanders. The game took place at the Centre Bell Arena in front of around 22,000 fans that came in support of their respective teams.
The Montreal Canadiens and the New York Islanders played their 9th game of the regular season thus far, hoping for a win. The home team started off the match in spectacular fashion and eventually won the match with the score on 5-3.
1st Period
The New York Islanders had a good start to the game as they came up with good early shots at the end of some brilliant plays. What they lacked was finishing. They had numerous chances but they just couldn’t find the back of the net.
However, as the period progressed the home team gained confidence and came up with attacks that almost saw them scoring. The team’s constant hard work paid off when they took the lead in the 14th minute. The goal was scored by Mathieu Darche from 9 feet
through a simple tip in shot.
After taking the lead, the home team backed by the home crowd pressed on in search of another goal which they were successful in scoring in the 18th minute. The 2-goal lead was established through Travis Moen’s fabulous backhand shot that he hit from 9 feet.
However, lead didn’t last long as the New York Islanders scored almost immediately to take the score to 1-2. The goal was scored by James Wisniewski through a powerful strike from 56 feet in the 19th minute. The period ended with this as the Montreal Canadiens
in the lead. During the course of the period, the Montreal Canadiens scored twice out of the 14 goal attempts they made and the New York Islanders scored once out of the 7 goal attempts.
2nd Period
The 2nd period saw good display of ice hockey from the home team as they started to dominate the proceedings. They showed some excellent playing at the back and up front. Not only outplaying the New York Islanders in defence and offence, the Montreal Canadiens
dictated at the centre.
The plays and hard work paid off as they scored in the 8th minute to take the score to 3-1. The goal was scored by Tomas Plekanec through a venomous strike made from 29 feet. Sitting in a comfortable position the team didn’t make any further attacks that
could have resulted in a mistake and the away team scoring to cut the lead.
The period ended with the score 3-1 in favour of the home team. During the period, the Montreal Canadiens made 9 goal attempts scoring once and the New York Islanders made 7 goal attempts without any goals.
3rd Period
The 3rd period begun in a spectacular way for the New York Islanders; they scored in the very first minute to cut the lead to just one goal. The goal was scored by John Tavares from 15 feet.
However, the Montreal Canadiens was able to respond to this as they scored in the 7th minute to take the score to 4-2. The goal was scored by Jeff Halpern from a 31 feet backhand strike. But the New York Islanders scored once again to keep in touch with
the opposition. This time the goal was scored by Captain Doug Weight from a powerful strike 56 feet away from goal.
However, Andrei Kostitsyn’s goal in the 18th minute from 33 feet sealed the win for the home team with the score 5-3.
At the end of the match John Tavares of the New York Islanders said, "It doesn't mean a whole lot when you don't get the two points, not getting a point out of it," Tavares said. "It's a tough way to lose. A couple tough breaks, a couple tough calls, but
that's the way it goes."
Michael Cammalleri of the Montreal Canadiens said, "I'm a big, big believer that the longer you stay together and the more chemistry you can build the more dynamic you can be offensively."
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